COMPUTATIONALLY EFFCIENT AND ACCURATE MODELS FOR THE DESCRIPTION OF NON-EQUILIBRIUM AEROTHERMAL ENVIRONMENTS ENCOUNTERED IN IGHT AND IN GROUND TEST FACILITIES ARE ESSENTIAL FOR ENGINEERING NASA SPACE VEHICLES ABLE TO OPERATE AT EXTREME CONDITIONS. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THESE VEHICLES CRITICALLY DEPENDS ON THE ACCURACY OF THE LOW MODELS THAT INCLUDE CHEMICAL REACTIONS AND RADIATION BUT WITHOUT THE MODELING SIMPLICATIONS A ORDED BY EQUILIBRIUM BOLTZMANN STATISTICS AND THE QUASI STEADY STATE ASSUMPTIONS. THE INADEQUACIES OF THESE MODELS AND THE IMPACT ON THE RADIATIVE HEATING PREDICTIONS HAVE BEEN DEMONSTRATED FROM THE THEORETICAL STANDPOINT AND HAVE BEEN CON RMED EXPERIMENTALLY. THE PROPOSED APPROACH WILL THUS INVOKE STATISTICAL MECHANICS TO RECONSTRUCT THE STATE DISTRIBUTION FUNCTION NEEDED FOR PRACTICAL SIMULATIONS. IN THIS APPROACH THE INTERNAL ENERGY SPACE IS SUB-DIVIDED INTO MULTIPLE GROUPS AND THE METHOD OF WEIGHTED RESIDUALS IS APPLIED TO THE MICROSCOPIC EQUATIONS TO PROVIDE MACROSCOPIC EQUATIONS AND RATE COECIENTS. THE MODEL WILL BE APPLIED TO MODELING OF THE NON-EQUILIBRIUM RADIATION DATA COLLECTED ON THE EAST SHOCK TUBE FACILITY AT NASA AMES RESEARCH CENTER.