Surely Per Aspera Ad Astra means 'through hard work anything can be obtained' ?
I mean those old dead latins didn't walk around saying things like 'do this and you can reach the stars' ?
'the stars' was something to look up to.
Per Aspera was perhaps 'out of breath' as in working or toiling.
per has the same meaning today, a 'joining' word 'per breathing..'
If they did walk around saying stuff like that then I bet they got beat up a lot
Anther way to say it is of course:
Arbeit macht frei