South Africa instituted its own military orders, decorations and medals in 1952. However, South African equivalents of the British Distinguised Flying Cross (DFC) and Air Force Cross (AFC) were omitted at the time. This omission was only belatedly addressed at the end of the 1966-1989 Border War when the Air Force Command Council proposed the institution of the Ad Astra Decoration (AAD) and the Air Force Cross (CA).

Depicted is the final draft design of the Ad Astra Decoration as prepared by the State Herald's office, incorporating the alterations previously ordered by the Air Force Command Council.

• The lines on the ribbon are slanted upwards toward the left shoulder and depicted here as 2 millimetres wide. Since it had been decided not to proceed with the proposed Ad Astra Medal which would originally have had a similar ribbon with 4 millimetres wide lines, a ribbon with wider 4 millimetres lines was eventually used for the Ad Astra Decoration, but in light blue instead of the dark blue as depicted.
• The points of the star were slimmed.
• Since the centre part of the obverse had to be redesigned, I suggested that the then current SAAF castle roundel should be used. The dark blue of the castle was subsequently also changed to light blue by the State Herald, to match the sky blue of the SAAF ensign.

Translating the two-dimensional paper drawing to a three-dimensional metal star proved difficult. Unlike some other South African decorations and medals with raised centres, such as the Air Force Cross and some versions of the Pro Patria Medal that were struck in two separate pieces, the star and castle of the Ad Astra Decoration was struck in one piece. This presented the manufacturer with some difficulty since the star is 5 millimetres thick at the centre of the castle, while the star points tapered down from 4 millimetres thick where their raised centres meet the castle to 2 millimetres at the edges. The five-pointed shape of the castle caused five structural weak points in the die, which resulted in several broken dies during production.

(I was a Staff Officer at the SADF Personnel Division at the time, with the administration of military orders, decorations and medals as part of my duties, and I worked closely with the State Herald, Citizen Force Major Fred Brownell, in the design and approval of this and several other new decorations and medals in 1991. Fred Brownell, incidentally, also designed the new South African National Flag of 1994.)