Abstract: Near space is a special zone where the spacecraft must pass through during reentry and the hypersonic craft cruise. The rarefied environment will undoubtedly have an influence on the aerodynamic characteristics, thermal protection and communication of the craft. As an integral-differential equation, Boltzmann equations can describe the velocity distribution function of the gas from continuum flow to free molecule flow under certain conditions. Moment equations, which are the macroscopic form of Boltzmann equations, include Euler equations, N-S equations, Burnett equations, super-Burnett equations and recently developed generalized hydrodynamic equations. Due to the well-developed numerical methods in computational fluid dynamics and high computational efficiency, moment method has a prominent advantage comparing with particle method and modeled Boltzmann equations. Therefore, the review of the development of moment equations in recent years and the research on the well-known problems are very important both in theory and practice.