I think a large factor in this is that most people over 54 remember the space race and followed all the moon missions on TV. The middle age group were told about them mostly by their parents. The youngest age group were mostly told about it from their grandparents. The moon missions are the acme of human space exploration. Looking at went on with space exploration in the last 30 years or so, I can understand why the young might not believe in a manned mission to the moon.