with their Cryogenic Upper Stages, and the first of these with a friction stir welded interstage module was launched in 1999. The process was also used for the Space Shuttle external tank, for Ares I until the project was canceled in 2012, the SLS Core which replaced the Ares, and for the Orion Crew Vehicle test article and the current model of the Orion at NASA, as well as Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 rockets at SpaceX. The toe nails for ramp of Boeing C-17 Globemaster III cargo aircraft by Advanced Joining Technologies and the cargo barrier beams for the Boeing 747 Large Cargo Freighter were the first commercially produced aircraft parts. FAA-approved wings and fuselage panels of the Eclipse 500 aircraft were made at Eclipse Aviation, and this company delivered 259 friction stir welded business jets, before they were forced into Chapter 7 liquidation. Floor panels for Airbus A400M military aircraft are now made by Pfalz Flugzeugwerke and Embraer used FSW for the Legacy 450 and 500 Jets Friction stir welding also is employed for fuselage panels on the Airbus A380. BRÖTJE-Automation uses friction stir welding for gantry production machines developed for the aerospace sector, as well as other industrial applications. Automotive Aluminium engine cradles and suspension struts for stretched Lincoln Town Cars were the first automotive parts that were friction stir welded at Tower Automotive, who use the process also for the engine tunnel of the Ford GT. A spin-off of this company is called Friction Stir Link, Inc. and successfully exploits the FSW process, e.g. for the flatbed trailer "Revolution" of Fontaine Trailers. In Japan FSW is applied to suspension struts at Showa Denko and for joining of aluminium sheets to galvanized steel brackets for the boot (trunk) lid of the Mazda MX-5. Friction stir spot welding is successfully used for the bonnet (hood) and rear doors of the Mazda RX-8 and the boot lid of the Toyota Prius. Wheels are friction stir welded at Simmons Wheels, UT Alloy Works and Fundo. Rear seats for the Volvo V70 are friction stir welded at Sapa, HVAC pistons at Halla Climate Control and exhaust gas recirculation coolers at Pierburg. Tailor welded blanks are friction stir welded for the Audi R8 at Riftec. The B-column of the Audi R8 Spider is friction stir welded from two extrusions at Hammerer Aluminium Industries in Austria. The front subframe of the 2013 Honda