An analysis is given for active transpiration cooling of re-entry-vehicle nosetips. Porouswall coolant flow and matrix/coolant energy exchange in this application are strongly twodimensional owing to thick-wall construction and large external streamwise pressure gradients. A steady-state calculation scheme and associated digital computer code are described for design analysis of such a nosetip considering axisymmetric two-dimensional wall geometry (zero angle of attack), variable properties, and large flow rates of an incompressible coolant supplied by a single plenum chamber. The wall solution is coupled to the heating environment by a simplified exit-surface energy balance. A design sequence is illustrated by calculating a water-cooled nosetip of nonuniform wall thickness and taylored permeability distribution designed to survive re-entry without coolant starvation, undercooling or excessive overcooling. The magnitudes of second-order inertial and transient effects in the reentry example are assessed by means of an equivalent one-dimensional transient solution. The conventional one-dimensional theory is found to be nonconservative with respect to coolant plenum pressure requirements.