The long arc of scientists in spaceflight: scientists flying with their experiments

Recent developments in commercial suborbital spaceflight have expanded opportunities for researchers to fly with their experiments. In an accompanying paper in npj Microgravity, we report results from a researcher-tended experiment aboard Blue Origin New Shepard flight NS-26 1 . This Perspective examines the historically rare role of scientists flying to conduct their own research and argues that firsthand participation in spaceflight enriches scientific observation, interpretation, and discovery.