The properties and applications of composite materials are key features to evaluate the advancement and reliability of aerospace vehicles. Composite materials are fundamental to support the development of various aerospace vehicles and decisive to success or failure of the flight mission. This paper reviews the recent progress of thermal structural materials， thermal protection materials， high-temperature wave-transparent materials， thermal insulator and structural composite materials. Finally， the authors believe that novel materials for extreme environment， reusable thermal protection materials， the 3rd generation advance structural composite material and the cost-effective manufacture technology are future directions of composite materials for aerospace applications.