I'd say the hoax started with a 'belief' that mankind was never 'meant' to go to the moon.

It was the turning of the theoretical into reality that brought home to so many people that the technological advances always written about in Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, etc, were going to start to happen with (or shortly after) the Apollo moon missions.

Not with the scientists who understood Apollo was possible, but the general public. We (meaning me and what I remember my parents talking about during Apollo 11 - I was nine... ) were used to looking at 'science' as a blend of years of theoretical research turning into occasional breakthrough (like the atomic bomb during the crisis of war).

We weren't used to the idea of the universe being understandable enough for our technology to land men land on the moon.

Some of us weren't/aren't ready to admit the universe is indifferent to technology: Whether or not what we think the universes' rules are doesn't matter a whit to what will and won't get us killed.

Now it's as if me & Joe Public are not willing to admit to the idea of the universe being much more complex than we thought it was during Apollo, and gleefully trouncing NASA for every failure.

And what 'we' aren't realizing is that the game is still played whether the contestants know the rules or not.

If we at least don't figure out the rules, we don't stand a chance, any more than the dino's did...

Doug.