This paper describes selected nondestructive evaluation (NDE) approaches that were developed or tailored at the NASA Glenn Research Center for characterizing advanced material systems. The emphasis is on high-temperature aerospace propulsion application. The material systems include monolithic ceramics, superalloys, and high temperature composites. In the aeronautic area, the highlights are cooled ceramic plate structures for turbine applications, TiAl blade materials for low-pressure turbines, thermoelastic stress analysis (TSA) for residual stress measurements in titanium based and nickel based engine materials, and acousto ultrasonics (AU) for creep damage assessment in nickel-based alloys. In the space area, examples consist of cooled carbon-carbon composites for gas generator combustors and flywheel rotors composed of carbon fiber reinforced polymer matrix composites for energy storage on the international space station.