Abstract: This paper reviews advanced aerospace materials, focusing on their role and features. The performances and the applications of aerospace materials are discussed with examples, including the structural materials (aluminum alloy, titanium alloy, advanced composite), the aeronautical functional materials (wave-transmitting composite, wave-absorbing stealthy composite), the astronautical functional materials (ablative thermal protection composite, functional gradient composite). It is pointed out that the development trends of aerospace materials are in the directions of high performance, compounding, intelligent, and low cost.