C there is growing interest in developing vehicles capable of flying and maneuvering at near orbital velocity within the upper atmosphere. Because of the lack of adequate ground-test facilities to simulate low-density, hypervelocity flight, there is also increasing interest in developing an entry research flight experiment program. The entry research vehicle (ERV) pictured in Fig. 1 is one candidate for such an experiment being proposed by NASA. It is envisioned that such an entry research vehicle would be shuttle-launched, with a research program of several flights. This will afford an opportunity to explore the environment over a large range of entry conditions. The vehicle will also be used to demonstrate maneuverability in the upper atmosphere, to test developing thermostructure concepts, and to measure the atmospheric flight conditions encountered by the vehicle. This synoptic discusses the methods used to predict the aerodynamic characteristics for a candidate entry research vehicle through the hypersonic speed regime. The computational codes and theories that were applied are outlined. Wind-tunnel data obtained at hypersonic conditions are presented to support the predictions. Various techniques that have been proven effective during the Shuttle program were utilized and are discussed.