Originally Posted by
rickair7777
I think apollo 13 holds the all-time speed record for manned vehicles, it came back faster than normal for obvious reasons.
However, speed in deep space really has nothing to with the design of the vehicle...with zero drag you are only limited by how much fuel you can carry (until you approach the speed of light). For that reason it's fair to include the shuttle, since it has to actually fly in the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds...not trivial airframe engineering.
I'll disagree on the basis of technicality. The shuttle never leaves the atmosphere by definition, in that the altitude that it orbits is within the Thermosphere, however, air density at that altitude is so thin that people get away with calling it 'space'. Drag still does exist here.
The shuttle doesn't attain its max speed while traveling through the atmosphere 'proper' (where aerodynamic control surfaces function) that we all think of when referring to 'aircraft'. On that basis, I don't consider the shuttle (or other 'spacecraft') to be valid on this list. Just my opinion.
When the shuttle re-enters the denser parts of the atmosphere at 17,000-18,000 mph, it isn't 'flying' yet. Thrusters are still controlling the attitude at these super high altitudes.