Résumé : The paper presents an overview of the aerothermal plasma simulation facilities in use at the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics and the main research topics that have been followed during 10 years of work in the field. Both numerical simulation of plasma flows and experimental techniques are addressed, with an emphasis of the methodology which allows to relate measurements in the facilities to flight conditions of a space vehicle (re-)entering a planetary atmosphere. (© 2004 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)