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Space
Space
Science
Elizabeth Howell

NASA used a drone to deliver a human kidney. Is this the future of transplant transport?

A large quadcopter drone flies in front of a clear, blue sky.

NASA is hoping to use drones to speed up organ delivery for transplant patients.

A flight test earlier this month at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia saw a drone pick up a kidney and fly it for the first time beyond "line of sight", or the distance from which a drone is visible by an operator. Keeping a line of sight on a drone is a typical requirement for flight safety, but NASA is developing tools that may allow these machines to fly further away from operators in populated environments more regularly.

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