The Only Spacecraft Which Flies Under 100% Human Control

Scott Manley

Space Ship Two has taken years to get to the point where paying passengers were allowed, 20 years after its predecessor Space Ship One took flight with its eyes set on the Ansari X-Prize. And while many will dismiss it as a carnival ride which barely makes it to space, it represents something almost unique in modern spaceflight, an entirely hand flown spacecraft with no computer orchestrating every maneuver.

The pilots in Space Ship Two are the only people who can claim to be spaceship pilots without qualifying that claim with a comment about the computers doing most of the work.