Why Rocket Lab USA stock soared this week

News coming from Rocket Lab USA (RKLB 8.75%) has trended strongly to the positive in the last five trading days. This inspired market players to buy the company’s stock to the point where it posted a convincing double-digit gain. According to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence, shares of Rocket Lab are up (sorry) more than 28% for the week.

A top manager is about to take over

On Tuesday, Rocket Lab announced a major change to its leadership suites. The company said it has hired a new COO, Frank Klein, and is wasting little time installing him in the new position. He will officially take over the post next Monday, September 16.

Klein is a more than 30-year veteran of the automotive industry, Rocket Lab wrote in its press release about the latest high-level hire. He held a number of management roles at the company now known as Mercedes-Benz Group during a 27-year stint at the famous vehicle manufacturer. Among these many positions was vice president of van operations.

In the press release trumpeting Klein’s hiring, Rocket Lab quoted CEO Peter Beck as saying that the incoming COO “is a seasoned and experienced global manufacturing and operations leader who will bring vision and a strong wealth of knowledge in lean manufacturing and scaling to Rocket Lab at a pivotal time in our evolution as an end-to-end space company.”

Mission to Mars

Rocket Lab could certainly use some seasoned operational experience at the top of its managerial food chain. After all, it’s a company on the move — last week it announced that it had completed a pair of spacecraft intended to explore Mars. The two will be used in the Escapade mission, led by a partnership of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the University of California, Berkeley.