The combustion chamber and nozzle of a liquid rocket engine need thermal protection against the high temperature combustion gas. The nozzle extension of a high-altitude engine also has to be compatible with high temperature environment and several kinds of cooling methods including gas film cooling, ablative cooling and radiative cooling are used. Especially for an upper-stage nozzle extension having a large expansion ratio, the weight impact on the launcher performance is crucial and it necessitated the development of light-weight refractory material. The present survey on the nozzle extension materials employed in the liquid rocket engines of USA, Russia and European Union has revealed a trend that the heavier metals like stainless steels and titanium alloys are being substituted with light weight carbon fiber or ceramic matrix composite materials.