Per aspera ad astra

Governmental entities

• City of Embu-Guaçu, Brazil
• City of Gouda, Netherlands (Wapen van Gouda)
• Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin^[1]
• State of Kansas (Ad astra per aspera)^[2]
• Town of Coalhurst, Alberta
• Town of Roxboro, Quebec

Military and government

• Department of Civil Aviation, Thailand^[3]
• Military Technical Academy in Bucharest, Romania^[4]
• National Defence Academy of Latvia^[5]
• Navy Special Warfare Group, EAM, United States-ST10-1X0C
• Quinto Grupo de Caza (5th Fighter Squadron), Argentine Air Force
• Royal Norwegian Air Force Band
• South African Air Force^[6]
• Spanish Air Force
• Trenton Air Cadet Training Centre in Trenton, Ontario, Canada
• Silesian Squadron 138, California Wing, Civil Air Patrol
• Hon. Julie Payette, 29th Governor General of Canada^[7]

Literature

• In Hermann Hesse's Beneath the Wheel, the headmaster of Maulbronn says this to Lucius for his futile efforts towards music.
• In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, title of a play depicting the history of the fictional Maycomb County in which Mrs. Merriweather says that it means "from the mud to the stars" (chapter 28, page 257, Warner Books, 1982).
• In James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, the dean of studies of Trinity College, Dublin, uses this phrase with Stephen Dedalus when discussing whether or not Stephen will eventually show enough artistic talent to provide the college an answer to the "esthetic question".
• In Kurt Vonnegut's The Sirens of Titan, it is the motto of the Martian Imperial Commandos (chapter 7, page 120, Orion Publishing Group, 2004).
• In Alan Moore's Watchmen, it is the motto of the Gila Flats Test Facility.
• In Steven Gould's Exo, Cent says this to Cory, who responds with "maxime asperum".
• In Alex Hirsch' Gravity Falls Journal no. 3. Written on one of the first pages of the 2016 book as an addition to the television series Gravity Falls.
• In Pierce Brown's Golden Son and all throughout its sequel Morning Star.
• In Kenta Shinohara's Astra Lost in Space, it is inscribed on a plaque on the bridge of the ship that the crew subsequently decided to name the Astra.^[8]
• In M. L. Rios' "If We Were Villains", it is the school motto for Dellecher Classical Conservetory, which is where most of the story occurs.
• In A. J. Finn's The Woman in the Window: A Novel, "Ad astra per aspera" (which she translates to "Through adversity to the stars") is the inscription on Anna Fox's father's memorial bench (chapter 14, page 69).

Music

• The subtitle of Moritz Moszkowski's set of fifteen Études de Virtuosité for piano, op. 72 (published 1903).
• The subtitle of Charles Villiers Stanford's Piano Trio No. 3, Op. 158 (1918).
• The title of the fourth album by ambient music duo Stars of the Lid (1998).
• The subtitle of Sergei Bortkiewicz's 3rd piano concerto (1927).
• The title of a song by Spiritual Beggars from their album "Ad Astra" (2000).
• The title of a song by Haggard (band) from their album "Eppur Si Muove" (2004).
• Acceptance has an instrumental track on their Phantoms album titled "Ad Astra Per Aspera" (2005).
• The title of the second album by Abandon Kansas (2011).
• Per Aspera Ad Aspera, the name of a best-of album by the band ASP (2014).
• The title of a march by Ernst Urbach op. 4 (1906).
• The title of an album of marches by the Royal Norwegian Air Force Band.
• The title of a track from the Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Super Music Collection.
• The title of a composition by Hasaan Ibn Ali from his second Atlantic recording, never released, the master tapes of which were destroyed in the Atlantic warehouse fire of 1978. "Reaching for the Stars" was provided in the BMI database as an "aka" (also known as) title.^[9]

Educational and research institutions

Fraternities and sororities

• Beta Sigma Psi National Lutheran Fraternity^[26]
• Sigma Gamma Phi – Arethusa Sorority^[27]
• Korp! Amicitia – Estonian student sorority.
• Freemasons-Knight's Templar, 32nd Degree
• K.Ö.St.V. Almgau Salzburg - Austrian Catholic Student Association^[28]
• K.a.V. Danubia Wien-Korneuburg im ÖCV - Austrian Catholic Student Association

Popular culture

• Garrison Keillor routinely references the phrase as the only Latin phrase he cared to remember on A Prairie Home Companion.^[29][30]
• Per aspera ad astra is a Soviet Russian science fiction film by Richard Viktorov, written by Kir Bulychov.
• Rip Torn says this phrase to David Bowie in the film The Man Who Fell to Earth.
• Tomo Milicevic, of the band 30 Seconds to Mars, has a tattoo on his right forearm reading 'per aspera et astra', with the band's logo in the background in red.
• Aspera! Per aspera! Per ardua! Ad astra! is the refrain of the song "Aspera" by Erin McKeown on the album We Will Become Like Birds.
• American singer, rapper, dancer, actress, and songwriter Kiely Williams has "Per aspera ad astra" tattooed on her right forearm.
• Said by Neil Patrick Harris in episode 18, season 4 of the TV show, Doogie Howser, M.D.
• Ad astra per aspera is said by B. J. Novak in episode 07, season 5 of the TV show, The Mindy Project
• Title of a play depicting the history of the fictional Maycomb County in To Kill a Mockingbird, in which the translation is given as from the mud to the stars.
• Title of a song by Haggard, from the album Eppur Si Muove (album).
• The name of an album by Abandon Kansas.
• A line from the song "On Thin Ice" by Evereve, from the album Tried and Failed.
• It is one of many hidden messages in the 2009 video game The Conduit.
• Motto of the Martian Imperial Commandos in Kurt Vonnegut novel, The Sirens of Titan.
• Title of a song by Seattle-based band Acceptance.
• Title of a song by Goasia, appearing on the album From Other Spaces (Suntrip records, 2007)
• Appears on right side shoulder patch in Star Trek Enterprise, on the "newer" uniform style shown on the series finale. In Star Trek The Next Generation it is shown to be the motto of Starfleet.
• The name of an album by Stars of the Lid
• The official motto of Solforce in the videogame Sword of the Stars.
• Title of a song by the band Spiritual Beggars from their album Ad Astra.
• The inscription on the chandelier in the 1979 post-apocalyptic ballet The Interpreter of Daydreams
• Title of a song by the band Die Apokalyptischen Reiter from their album Samurai.
• The quote from Battlefield: Bad Company 2
• The final mission (Chapter 15) in the Mafia II video game
• Line in the Answer Page song Sunflower
• In a tattoo piece in The Raven
• The name of an album by Estonian band Põhja-Tallinn
• Phrase has been spoofed slightly by the band Ghost in the song "Per Aspera Ad Inferi" from their album Infestissumam^[31] literally meaning "Through hardships to hell."^[32]
• Used at the end of Bungie's "O Brave New World" vidoc after the final installment of Halo.
• Title of a background music from the Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire video games which plays during a voyage into space.
• In the 2015 film "The Martian," at the end of the film astronaut Mark Watney is giving his first lecture to the Astronaut Candidate Program and the phrase appears embedded in the central floor area of the lecture hall around a logo
• In Bioware's Mass Effect 3, this phrase is set in the middle of the wall of names dedicated to the fallen crew members of the main ship, the SSV Normandy SR2.
• Found in the Gravity Falls Journal #3 penned on the inside title page.
• Title of character leveling achievements in Mistwalker's mobile game "Terra Battle"
• The title of Pee Wee Gaskins (band)'s album Ad Astra Per Aspera (2010).^[33]
• The title character in Ottessa Moshfegh's novel "Eileen" [Penguin Press, 2015, p 121] accepts and smokes a Pall Mall and refers to the motto on the package "Per aspera ad astra" translated as "Through the thorns to the stars."

Others

• A plaque honoring the astronauts of Apollo 1 at the launch site where they perished.
• A tribute exhibit to the Apollo 1 Astronauts "Ad Astra Per Aspera - A Rough Road Leads to the Stars" opened on January 27, 2017, the 50th anniversary of the loss of the crew, at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.
• Inscribed on the crest of Pall Mall cigarettes packages^[34]
• The theme of "POR CC XXI" by Kolese Kanisius Jakarta
• Tradewinds Swiss^[35]
• Space Development Network^[36]
• Part three of the book "Jepp who Defied the Stars" by Katherine Marsh has the phrase as its title.^[37]