Shares of Virgin Galactic (NYSE: SPCE) climbed as much as 10.8% early Wednesday, then settled to trade up 5.6% as of 2 p.m. ET. The move was likely driven by a combination of a new board appointment and bearish investors rushing to close out their positions in highly shorted stocks.

On the former, late yesterday Virgin Galactic announced the appointment of Luigi Brambilla to its board of directors. Brambilla is currently the Managing Director of Investments and Capital Markets at Virgin Group, which he joined in 2013, and serves as a member of the Investment Committee of the Branson Family office.

Brambilla's capital markets experience should prove invaluable for Virgin Galactic as the company strives to find a balance between minimizing cash burn and scaling its spaceflight operations. Shares of the leading space economy stock have rallied more than 35% so far this month after the company announced a "strategic realignment" aimed at supporting production of its next-generation Delta spacecraft.

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Source Fool.com