Given all of the manned space accidents (fatal and non-fatal) what makes you
think that requiring a "man in the loop" is going to make much of a
difference in safety?

Jeff

It's true that plane crashes still happen despite pilots in the
cockpit. However, pilots are ulimately responsible for the safety of
passengers and usually pay with their own lives if they screw-up.
This gives many passengers the confidence necessary to board planes.

In the case of nuclear reactors in space, the concern with an
uncontrolled re-entry is causing an international incident and an
environmental disaster costing billions to clean-up. Having people
with hands-on control at all times would go a long way toward giving
governments the confidence to allow spaceborne reactors in spite of
the risks.