Axios

Recent missions from the space agency have been made possible with the work of Latino and Latina engineers.

Details: Aerospace engineer Diana Trujillo moved from Colombia to the U.S. speaking no English. She paid her way through school by working as a housekeeper. She is now a lead scientist for the Mars Perseverance rover.

When the Inspiration4 crew lives in space for three days, they'll do more than just sightseeing. The crew members also hope to perform experiments and fly a variety of sentimental items with them in space.

The big picture: This mission is like none that have flown before, but the crew is still planning to draw on the experiences of previous professional crews to help advance space science and attract the public to their cause.

Jupiter Intelligence, an extreme weather and climate risk management firm, announced Tuesday it is picking up a major new Japanese investor, venture capital fund MPower Partners, to jump-start an Asian expansion.

The big picture: The total investment is not yet disclosed, but Jupiter’s co-founder and CEO, Rich Sorkin, told Axios it is "substantially more" than the total investments used to build up Jupiter so far, which puts it above $40 million.

The all-civilian Inspiration4 crew, launching to orbit this week, will force the space industry to contend with just how much risk ordinary people are willing to take on in order to build humanity's future in space.

Why it matters: The private space industry's goal of building an economy in space hinges on sending more people to orbit in the near future. But spaceflight is still an incredibly risky endeavor and it will likely remain that way for the foreseeable future.

Hurricane Nicholas made landfall near Sargent Beach, Texas, Tuesday morning — threatening to bring up to 18 inches of rainfall and flooding to parts of the state and Louisiana, per the National Hurricane Center.

What's happening: Heavy rains, high winds and "dangerous" storm surges were ongoing, said the NHC, confirming just before 2am that the Category 1 hurricane had hit the state. Nearly 200,000 customers had lost power in Texas by 3:30am, per the utility tracking site poweroutage.us.

Nicholas strengthened into a hurricane as it neared Texas' coast late Monday, per the National Hurricane Center.

The latest: The storm was expected to make landfall along the Texas coast in a the next few hours, the NHC said in an 11p.m. update. It was already bringing heavy rains, strong winds and storm surges to parts of the central and upper Texas coast.

COVID-19 vaccine booster doses are not necessary right now based on the current evidence, international public health experts — including two FDA vaccine leaders who are leaving the agency this year — wrote a new paper in The Lancet.

Why it matters: The paper is a rebuke of the Biden administration's push to open up booster shots for everyone.