The issue: Can human space flight continue in a nation weighed down by debt?

Fifty-two years after recruiting its first class of seven “right stuff” test pilots, NASA is again putting out a help-wanted sign for astronauts.

But why? The space shuttle fleet has been consigned to history, NASA’s program to develop a new orbital launch system shelved in favor of a scrum among private contractors to develop a reusable shuttle.

AMERICA’S ONLY firm appointment in space for the next decade is to continue sending an astronaut or two at a time to staff the International Space Station. Those trips, for at least several years, will, we hope, be made aboard Russian rockets that have their own challenges with safety and reliability.

Despite periodic White House pledges to go to Mars or an asteroid or even back to the moon, the space program really hasn’t been a high priority for decades. The current pledge by President Barack Obama to send a new “deep space” capsule to an asteroid by 2025 and to Mars by the mid-2030s, however sincere, faces daunting fiscal and technical obstacles.

In such a climate, the downsizing of the astronaut corps by attrition is notable perhaps for how many have stuck with the space program: There were more than 150 in 2000, about 60 today. The last nine hires came two years ago and are still in training — it takes years to learn how to run the space station, with its polyglot instructions and diverse gear.

NASA’s not saying how many astronauts it will take on in the new class. The basic job requirements — a bachelor’s degree in engineering, math or science and three years of relevant professional experience — are fairly open-ended. A few years of flying high-performance jets is helpful if you want to be a command pilot, less essential for mission specialists.

THOSE IN THE first class of astronauts knew they were flying with largely unproven equipment, but no shortage of national support. Those in the 21st class of space trainees in some respects face a less-certain career path.

Perhaps it’s just as well that NASA won’t pick them until 2013. Maybe by then, the U.S. government, on the other side of national elections, will be better able to decide if human space flight can continue as a federal program by a nation weighed down by debt.

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