system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Star Trek] Why do Federation starships always beam down the highly-ranked officers to planets rather than more expendable soldiers?
gpt
You'll note that the most famous records of Starfleet explorations involve exceptional danger even by the standards of the various flagships.  Death for Starfleet personnel is vanishingly uncommon, and only seems to be a widespread risk  because we're only exposed to the stories that involve that risk.

For every away mission that results in death, another thousand go without incident. 

Most of the challenges faced involve diplomatic or technical obstacles that need to be overcome.  Therefore, the vessel sends its most apt diplomats and engineers, which happen to be senior staff.