Post by NASA Langley Research Center

A proud moment for our teams at NASA Langley! 🎉 In collaboration with the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), we completed NASA’s first Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone flight with a research organ onboard — showing how drones could support faster, more reliable organ transport when it matters most. This flight demonstrated a critical capability for real-world medical transport: operating a drone when the pilot cannot directly see it, or beyond the pilot’s visual line of sight. BVLOS flight will enable drones to move organs quickly through congested areas, reach remote communities, and streamline the first and last miles of transport. This work highlights how NASA Langley’s technical expertise and unique facilities are opening the door to what the future of lifesaving medical transport could look like when every second counts. Photo Credit: NASA/Ryan Hill