NASA's Isaacman Backs Pluto Planet Reclassification

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman expressed strong support for reclassifying Pluto as a planet during testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations on April 28, 2026. Responding to a question from Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., Isaacman stated, "I am very much in the camp of make Pluto a planet again." He added that NASA is preparing scientific papers on the issue, saying, "We are doing some papers right now on a position that we would love to escalate through the scientific community to revisit this discussion and ensure that Clyde Tombaugh gets the credit he received once and rightfully deserves to receive again."

The exchange occurred at the end of a hearing primarily focused on the White House's fiscal year 2027 budget request for NASA. Moran highlighted the historical significance of Pluto's 1930 discovery by American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, who was from his home state of Kansas.

Pluto held planetary status for 76 years after Tombaugh spotted it at Lowell Observatory in Arizona. In 2006, the International Astronomical Union reclassified it as a dwarf planet, applying new criteria that a planet must orbit the Sun, achieve hydrostatic equilibrium to form a nearly...