Space tourism startup Virgin Galactic has made changes at the top as it prepares to launch commercial space flight service later this year. The stock is taking off, but the management move probably isn't the reason.

Thursday evening, Virgin Galactic (ticker: SPCE) said that as part of a so-called leadership update, Swami Iyer, president for aerospace systems, has left the company. He will serve as an advisor to CEO Michael Colglazier until Mar. 3.

“With the completion of the enhancement program for our mothership at hand, our streamlined leadership structure will help propel the business forward as we prepare for commercial spaceline operations” said Colglazier in a news release.

Virgin Galactic stock was up almost 20% in premarket trading. S & P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down about 0.4% and 0.3%, respectively.

The biggest reason for the Friday surge isn't the change, it is probably a line in the press release that says commercial operations are on track to begin in “Q2 2023 as previously announced.”

Investors have been waiting for Galactic to start commercial service for a while. The company's initial goal was to be flying paying passengers to space in 2020.

Shares are also rising, in part, because of how poorly they performed in 2022, with a loss of more than 70%. Big declines will generate some tax-related selling by investors looking to generate a capital loss to offset capital gains elsewhere. Investors still interested in any stock can buy it back 31 days after exiting a position and preserve the capital loss.

It isn't an uncommon practice and can lead to stocks rising early in a new year. Coming into Friday trading, Virgin Galactic stock was up about 33% in 2023.

The motherships Colglazier mentioned are what take Virgin Galactic's space ships high into the air before dropping them as spacecraft engines light, sending the occupants higher and giving them a zero-gravity experience.

In July, Virgin Galactic announced that a Boeing (BA) subsidiary would design and manufacture the next generation of Galactic's motherships.

Executives leading “spaceline” operations at the company still include NASA veteran Mike Moses, former Delta Air Lines (DAL) executive Mike Moore, and former Lockheed Martin (LMT) executive Steven Justice.