NASA chief Jared Isaacman says he's fighting for Pluto: 'I am very much in the camp of 'make Pluto a planet again'

NASA chief Jared Isaacman wants to restore Pluto to its former glory. In 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) stripped Pluto of its planethood , reclassifying the icy world as a "dwarf planet." The decision was controversial, and not just because it forced schoolchildren around the world to learn a new mnemonic for our solar system's major denizens. Little Pluto was beloved and remains so, especially in the United States. After all, it's the only planet discovered by an American, Clyde Tombaugh , who made the historic find in 1930 using imagery captured by Lowell Observatory in Arizona. Twenty years on, many Pluto lovers are still fighting the IAU's decision, claiming it was unscientific and inconsistently applied. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman testifies before the U.S. Senate appropriations committee on April 28, 2026. (Image credit: U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations) The IAU defined a planet according to three newly pronounced criteria: It has to orbit the sun , be massive enough to be spherical, and clear its orbit of debris. Pluto fell short on the third count, according to the IAU, as it shares space in the distant Kuiper Belt with many other dwarf planets. But Earth shares orbital space with lots of asteroids, as does Jupiter, Pluto-planet advocates note. So why was Pluto singled out? We now know that such Pluto defenders include Isaacman, a billionaire private astronaut and tech entrepreneur who became NASA chief this past December . …