NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman advocated this week for Pluto to regain its planet status, speaking at a U.S. Senate committee hearing.
WASHINGTON — At a U.S. Senate committee hearing this week, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said that he believes Pluto should be classified again as a planet — a distinction that was removed from the now-dwarf planet 20 years ago.
Isaacman was speaking Tuesday before a committee on President Donald Trump’s proposed budget for NASA, which would make cuts to the agency’s funding.
Sen. Jerry Moran, a Republican from Kansas who serves on the Senate Committee on Appropriations, asked Isaacman his thoughts on Pluto.
“Senator, I am very much in the camp of ‘make Pluto a planet again,’” Isaacman said.
He went on to say, “And I would say we are doing some papers right now on, I think, 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.”
Tombaugh discovered Pluto in 1930. It was considered our solar system’s ninth planet until 2006, when the International Astronomical Union reclassified Pluto as a dwarf planet because it does not meet the criteria of having “cleared” its orbit of other objects.
So far the IAU has classified four other dwarf planets in our solar system: Ceres, Haumea, Makemake and Eris.
> Watch the exchange between Moran and Isaacson below:
In 1930, Clyde Tombaugh from Burdett, Kansas, discovered Pluto, & I appreciate @NASAAdmin’s interest in reclassifying Pluto as a planet and restoring credit for the discovery of the planet to Clyde Tombaugh.⬇️ pic.twitter.com/cK2PW7Occ6
— Senator Jerry Moran (@JerryMoran) April 30, 2026