The recession of an ablative heat shield could significantly modify the nominal outer shape of a re-entry capsule and affect its aerodynamic behavior during the flight through the atmosphere. To quantify this effect, an experimental activity was carried out in the Mach-6 hypersonic wind tunnel H3 at the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics. Subscale models of the European Space Agency hypervelocity entry demonstrator Phoebus, equipped with a heat shield made of a low-temperature ablator to promote the surface recession in the low-enthalpy conditions, were tested to record simultaneously the heat-shield recession and the aerodynamic loads. This paper describes the theoretical conception of this activity, details the preparation of the experimental test campaign and presents a first analysis of the experimental results.