Shuttle re-entry and landing is divided into 3 stages, the first 2 under automatic control, the third manually flown by the pilot.
The first phase of descent is labeled simply Entry and extends from five minutes before the re-entry Interface until the start of TAEM.
Terminal Area Energy Management (TAEM) starts when the orbiter has decelerated to Manch 2.5 at about 83,000 feet until the shuttle reaches Mach 1 at about 10,000 feet.
The approach and landing phase extends from Mach 1 until touchdown. The pilot is presented with a heading alignment circle on his display which gives him command cues to fly a descending turn to intercept the glideslope at the correct height and speed and then glideslope cues. But its all manually flown....
The Russian Buran, on the other hand, was totally automatic. It didnīt even have a crew on its test flights.