Current and expected developments in space transportation have led to growing interest in new space vehicles. These new vehicles require essential improvements over current vehicles in order to ensure economic viability and to fulfill mission and safety constraints. The size and complexity of this problem has led to growing importance of numerical methods for design and optimization involving all disciplines as well as the optimal use of all technical potentialities is necessary. In particular a key to successful design, development and flight of any space vehicle is its aerothermodynamic design. Aerothermodynamics encompasses the classical aerodynamics from take-off to landing, but also orbital ascent/descent, aeroheating, fluid dynamics and physical processing. As a branch of the fluid dynamics, its sources of knowledge are physics and chemistry, applied mathematics and computer science. As an engineering discipline, it provides crucial information to all the other key disciplines like structures, materials, including thermal protection systems, flight dynamics, guidance, navigation, control and propulsion. The materials here presented review the growth and advances done in the last years. The status of the physical modeling, code development issues such as algorithms, surface and field grid generation and validation data is provided. A number of applications examples are presented based on lessons learned at DLR, as well as from past European programs. The study does not go in to details since it pretends to be a reference for future researches in CFD for aerothermodynamics.