Abstract: An organ containment shipping system has an outer container adapted to receive a passive cooling medium and an inner container adapted to receive an organ to be transported in a preservation medium. The inner container is positioned within the outer container by structure that includes a gimbal mechanism to substantially maintain the inner container in a predefined orientation in the event of a change of orientation of the outer container. Preferably, the preservation medium is a dual-layer preservation liquid having a bottom oxygen carrying layer and a top layer and the inner container include a perforated plate positioned in the inner container above a level of the bottom layer to prevent the organ from rising in the preservation medium. In one embodiment, the organ containment shipping system includes a system for regulating a level of the preservation medium relative to the organ and a system for regulating a temperature of the organ relative to the cooling medium.