It sounds vaguely latin, I was wondering if 'astra' or 'ad' were real words that formed a real phrase or something. Other than just sounding spacy that is.

Ad - To/Towards

Astra - Sky/Stars

As the secondary title states, to the Stars, or so I would imagine.

I feel knowledge filling my skull! Or at least 2 words of it.

thanks.

Ad Astra means "to the stars", and is a template found in two different well known latin quotes :

"sic itur ad astra" means "that's how one goes to the stars". (Virgil)

"per aspera ad astra" means " "one goes to the stars through narrow (meaning hard) ways". (Seneca, not a real surprise)

'Ad Astra' I translated easily, with my past history as a Latin student at school - but it's surprising how rapidly the knowledge has left me! I'll have to tap the knowledge of my next door neighbour, an Italian Latin Proffessor who can help me translate some of the fine cards in this game.

Ahem... he could perhaps help me with my English as well ("professor").

Actually, 'astra' is stars (plural of astrum) not sky, which is 'caelum' or occasionally 'caela' (also plural - think skies, heavens, in a poetic sense). Incidentally, although the actual Roman wording is recorded as 'per aspera ad astra' the RAF uses 'per ardua ad astra', which is more like "through hard work to the stars" (usually translated adversity).

Very informative for those of us who skipped latin in high school. Thanks!

LeBlanc13 said:

I wish my high school taught latin!

Tarnis Phoenix said:

Ha! No sooner is Latin removed from the curriculum than kids start wishing it was taught! I guess the grass is always greener, eh? =P

In Latin, articles (in this case, the) are sort of implied. Nobody who spoke Latin really cared much about word order, it was the endings that mattered.

So, yes, to the stars is a good translation.

Huh, that's interesting.