Two astronauts stand silently on a desolate, cratered moon looking out at Earth. One turns to the other with a loaded handgun. Moments before the shot echoes across the void, the victim utters a brief realization: "Wait, it's all Ohio?" The gunman replies with chilling deadpan precision: "Always has been."
This viral exchange is the Always Has Been meme, an absurd piece of internet humor that exploded across social media platforms to express sudden, sweeping disillusionment. Rather than originating as a high-budget digital art project, this cultural touchstone grew organically from a simple stock photo and a gaming community running gag. It captures a very specific feeling of realizing that foundational truths you took for granted were false all along.
Understanding how this surreal space joke conquered the internet requires looking backward at its humble origins, its precise anatomy, and why it resonated so deeply during a chaotic cultural climate.
The Anatomy of the Two Astronauts Template
At its core, the template relies on a classic three-panel or two-panel comic structure. The first panel establishes the setting: a vast, beautiful view of Earth from space, visited by two space explorers. The second panel shifts the perspective, revealing that Earth has been completely replaced by an unexpected, mundane, or absurd location—most famously the U.S. state of Ohio.
The punchline functions through absolute resignation. There is no escape, no fight, and no grand conspiracy exposed with dramatic flair. The gunman simply confirms that the deception has been active forever.
This format borrows heavily from surrealist humor and deep-fried meme aesthetics popular on platforms like Reddit and Twitter. By juxtaposing the sublime majesty of space exploration with utter banality, the joke creates an instant comedic contrast.
Origins and Timeline of the Space Joke
The roots of the Always Has Been meme stretch back several years before its peak viral explosion in mid-2020. The visual foundation comes from a legitimate stock photography image captured by NASA astronaut Piers Sellers during the STS-121 space shuttle mission in July 2006. The original photo features a crew member working on the International Space Station, reflecting the curve of the Earth in their helmet visor.
Over a decade later, in December 2016, an image macro surfaced on the /r/me_irl subreddit featuring a fictionalized conversation between two astronauts. In this early iteration, one astronaut looks at the planet and asks, "Wait, it's all America?" The other replies, "Always has been."
For a couple of years, the format remained a niche gaming and geopolitical joke, often swapped among subreddits poking fun at American hegemony or specific national borders. However, the template lay dormant, waiting for the right moment and the right remix to spark widespread adoption.
The 2020 Explosion
The format exploded into mainstream internet consciousness in early 2020 during global lockdowns. Trapped indoors, millions of internet users turned to surreal, absurdist humor to process collective anxiety.
During this surge, creators began swapping out "America" for "Ohio"—a long-running internet running joke that framed the Midwestern state as a bizarre, inescapable wasteland. The internet latched onto the hyper-specific absurdity of the premise. Soon, users were replacing the planet with everything from video game maps to local grocery store parking lots.
Why the Joke Captured the Internet's Mood
Humor often serves as a coping mechanism during periods of intense social friction. In 2020, people felt like the rules they had relied on for their entire lives were shifting beneath their feet. The Always Has Been meme provided a ready-made canvas for that exact feeling of existential dread mixed with weary acceptance.
When the astronaut realizes the entire universe is actually just a mundane or terrible place, it mirrors the feeling of reading the daily news. You look out at what you thought was a stable reality, only to discover a layer of absurdity underneath.
- The Power of Deadpan: The second astronaut doesn't gloat or explain the plot. The phrase "Always has been" implies a terrifying permanence. The trap wasn't built yesterday; it was always this way.
- Infinite Versatility: Because the Earth can be replaced with any background imaginable, the format invited endless user-generated variations. Programmers made it about coding languages; gamers made it about glitchy titles.
- Low Barrier to Entry: You didn't need advanced design skills to participate. Basic photo editing tools were enough to paste a new background into the helmet visor, driving rapid community adoption.
Common Misconceptions About the Viral Hit
Internet history gets murky fast, and casual observers often misunderstand how these trends function. Let's clear up a few persistent myths about this space adventure.
Some people assume the artwork was pulled directly from a comic book or a sci-fi movie. In reality, it was stitched together by anonymous users who combined a genuine NASA photograph with generic cartoon outlines.
Another common mix-up involves the timing. While the template originated in 2016, its cultural footprint belongs entirely to the viral wave of mid-2020. Treat it as a snapshot of a specific digital epoch rather than a sustained multi-year phenomenon.
Long-Term Impact on Digital Discourse
Today, the phrase "Always has been" has transcended the original image template entirely. People drop it into regular text conversations, corporate social media replies, and video game chat rooms whenever someone points out an obvious, long-standing flaw or recurring truth.
It joins the pantheon of internet shorthand like "Distracted Boyfriend" or "Loss," serving as a linguistic shortcut for systemic realization. When you want to express that a problem isn't new—that it has literally always been this way—four simple words do the heavy lifting.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where did the original astronaut photo come from?
The visual base comes from a photograph taken aboard the International Space Station during NASA mission STS-121 in 2006. An astronaut's helmet visor reflects the curve of the Earth, which artists later adapted into the comic format.
Why is Ohio specifically featured in the most popular version?
Ohio became the punchline of a long-running ironic internet meme that humorously portrayed the state as a surreal, inescapable void or separate dimension. Pairing space exploration with a mundane Midwestern state created peak comedic absurdity.
Is the meme still relevant today?
While the daily flood of image macros has slowed down, the catchphrase remains a permanent part of internet slang. You'll regularly see the phrase used in text comments to highlight recurring truths or systemic issues.
How do creators make variations of the template?
Creators typically use basic image editing software like Photoshop or mobile apps to swap the texture inside the astronaut's helmet visor while keeping the foreground characters intact.
