This paper studies space curves $C$ of degree $d$ and arithmetic genus $g$, with homogeneous ideal $I$ and Rao module $M={\mathrm{H}}_{*}^1\left(\tilde{I}\right)$, whose main results deal with curves which satisfy ${}_0{\mathrm{Ext}}_R^2(M,M)=0$ (e.g. of diameter, $\mathrm{diam}M\le 2$). For such curves we find necessary and sufficient conditions for unobstructedness, and we compute the dimension of the Hilbert scheme, $\mathrm{H}(d,g)$, at $\left(C\right)$ under the sufficient conditions. In the diameter one case, the necessary and sufficient conditions coincide, and the unobstructedness of $C$ turns out to be equivalent to the...