Pluto lost its planetary status in 2006. Nearly two decades later, people are still arguing about it — and now the argument has reached the White House.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told the Daily Mail he fully supports reclassifying Pluto as a planet. “I 100% support President Trump making Pluto great again,” he said in an interview at the Kennedy Space Center ahead of the planned Artemis II moon mission.
The International Astronomical Union downgraded Pluto to a dwarf planet in 2006. The reasoning was that Pluto hadn’t cleared its orbital path around the sun — one of three criteria the IAU set for full planetary status. Critics of that decision have pushed back ever since.
Isaacman framed part of his argument around history. Pluto was discovered in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh, an American astronomer from Kansas. “I think we owe it to everyone from Kansas and all their great contributions to astronomy and aerospace to rightfully restore that discovery to a planet,” he said.
He isn’t alone. William Shatner called the IAU “a bunch of corrupt nerds on a power trip” earlier this year and urged Trump to sign an executive order restoring Pluto’s status. Elon Musk responded to that suggestion with a simple “I’d support that.” Senator Mike Lee of Utah posted in February asking Trump to “Make Pluto Planetary Again.”
During Trump’s first term, then-NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine made a similar case. Pluto has an ocean beneath its surface, organic compounds, and its own moons, he argued in 2019. He also questioned the IAU’s core reasoning — that no planet truly clears its entire orbit, which would technically make every planet in the solar system a dwarf planet under a strict reading of the rule.
Trump hasn’t weighed in yet.
Source: Daily Mail