Hypersonic aerodynamic characteristics of a lifting body were measured in the free-piston driven shock tunnel JAXA-HIEST. The novel three-component force-measurement technique \"Free-flight in wind tunnel\" was implemented, which enables high-precision multi-component force measurement within the short test duration on the order of milliseconds. The test model was a 10%-scaled HYFLEX Japanese lifting body reentry vehicle, which had successful reentry test flight in 1997. During the test

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... , the model angle of attack was varied from 30 to 50 degrees with elevon (body flap) deflection angle of 0 degrees and 20 degrees. To evaluate the measurement uncertainties of the present free-flight technique, the comparison was conducted on the aerodynamic coefficients obtained with the conventional forcebalance technique in the blow-down type Hypersonic wind tunnel ONERA-S4MA. The comparison revealed that the drag, lift and the lift-drag ratio agreed quite well with both measurements above. However, a significant difference of pitching moment characteristics, especially on trim angle was detected at a flap deflection of 0 degrees.