To be drawn to the stars – ad astra – is a powerful enough, and common enough, state of being to merit becoming the title of the entire collection, as well as the inspiration for this first theme.
The objects in this section fall roughly into two broad themes (although in the spirit of the messiness of human emotions, there is often thematic overlap). The first group encompasses very personal belongings that intricately and intimately relate to someone’s individual ‘space story’.
Ordinary, unexpected objects such as a Rubik’s cube or a 1960s pilot’s regulator started their respective owners on their journey into space—one to zero-gravity flights and analog missions, as waypoints on her dream to become an astronaut, while the other was selected as one of five finalists to train as a commercial astronaut. Other stories emerge as well—stories which show how the cosmic pulls on people in very different ways, such as escapism and daydreaming.