SpaceX Raises Its Biggest Round Yet, $1.9 Billion

Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corp. has raised $1.9 billion in funding, according to regulatory filings posted Tuesday.

Citing sources familiar with the deal, Bloomberg reported on plans for the round last week, saying the funds would bring the Hawthorne-based company to a $46 billion equity value.

It comes after SpaceX became the first private company to take astronauts to orbit docking at the International Space Station and returning back safely, earlier this month. This round marks the largest to date for the rocket-ship maker, according to PItchBook, and hints at Musk's ambitions.

SpaceX could not immediately be reached for comment.

When Elon Musk launched SpaceX in El Segundo in 2002, detractors didn't think a company that sought to make space travel affordable could survive.

Musk's aim was to make space travel cheaper. He hopes eventually to colonize Mars. A successful mission to bring astronauts to the International Space Station this summer brought him one step closer to that goal.

On Tuesday the company also notched its 100th mission with the launch of its Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral ferrying Starlink broadband satellites into space.