Wing, a subsidiary of Alphabet (the parent company of Google), has become the first company in the United States to successfully deliver a package by drone.

In Christiansburg, the small Virginia town chosen as Wing’s test location, the 22,000 residents can order products normally shipped by FedEx, medicine from Walgreens and a selection of candy from a local business. All of these will arrive via drone.

Wing already operates in two Australian cities as well as Helsinki. The company announced in a statement that the first drone-powered deliveries had taken place Friday afternoon in Christiansburg, “paving the way for the most advanced drone delivery service in the nation.”

One family used the Wing app to order Tylenol, cough drops, Vitamin C tablets, bottled water and tissues, the statement said.

An older resident ordered a birthday present for his wife. A FedEx truck did the majority of the delivery. However, the company completed the last mile by drone.

The yellow and white drones are loaded with packages at a local centre of operations called the “Nest”. There, Wing employees pack the drones with up to three pounds (1.3 kilograms) of goods, deliverable within a six-mile (10-kilometre) radius.

Once they have arrived at their destination, the drones don’t land. Instead, they hover above the house and lower the package with a cable.

Other companies are working to launch similar services, most notably Amazon, UPS and Uber Eats. But Wing was the first to obtain a license from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The FAA authorises company pilots to fly multiple drones at the same time.