A NASA Administrator Personally Replied to a Fourth Grader's Letter About Pluto
Kaela Polkinghorn is 10 years old and from Tampa, Florida. She went on a field trip to the Museum of Science and Innovation, watched a planetarium show about the solar system, and noticed something that bothered her: Pluto was sitting alone, separated from the eight planets clustered together in the presentation.
"It's very small, and it's so cute," she told Mashable. "Like a little baby."
So she decided to do something about it. She wrote NASA a letter.
Within days, the NASA Administrator himself had responded — and a debate that has simmered in the scientific community for nearly two decades was suddenly front-page news again.
The Letter
Kaela gathered some classmates, including her friend Zoey Mead, and wrote a handwritten appeal directly to NASA asking for Pluto to be restored to its former status as a planet. The letter was earnest, specific, and scientifically grounded — she mentioned Pluto's location in the Kuiper Belt, its discovery in 1930 by astronomer Clyde Tombaugh at Arizona's Lowell Observatory, its five known moons, and the fact that while it is smaller than Earth's own moon, it still deserves to be considered a full planet.
She also apologized, at the end, "for any handwriting or spelling mistakes."
Her mother Brandy Polkinghorn found the note and shared it with family friend Mike Boylan — a Tampa weather personality with a large online following who runs the popular Mike's Weather Page. Boylan posted it on X. "Dear @NASA. From 10-year-old Kaela. She is mailing to you today. Too cute not to post."
The internet did what the internet occasionally does correctly. It paid attention.
NASA's Response
On April 9, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman replied personally on X. His response was four words: "Kaela — we are looking into this."
That was enough. The post exploded. A NASA spokesperson subsequently confirmed that Isaacman personally supports restoring Pluto's planetary status — a position he had outlined in an earlier interview — though the authority to actually change the classification rests not with NASA but with the International Astronomical Union, the global body that made the original reclassification decision in 2006.
An IAU spokesperson confirmed the organization has not received any formal communication from NASA or Isaacman about reconsidering Pluto's status. Scientific classifications, the IAU noted, are determined through international consensus and evidence-based processes — not by any single space agency, however powerful.
The Arizona Connection
The story resonated particularly in Arizona. Pluto was discovered at Flagstaff's Lowell Observatory, and the state has a deep connection to the little world at the edge of the solar system. In 2024, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs signed House Bill 2477, designating Pluto as the official state planet — making Arizona the only state in the country to claim an official state planet. Congressman Abraham Hamadeh chimed in after the letter went viral, posting that he had separately sent a letter to President Trump asking for the same reclassification. "It's time Arizona's planet was rightfully classified," his office wrote.
What Kaela Wants
If Pluto is ever restored to planetary status, Kaela already knows how the world should mark the occasion. Free ice cream for everyone.
She also has a long-term goal: she wants to fly in a rocket someday, with Pluto as her intended destination. The solar system's most famous outcast now has at least one 10-year-old firmly in its corner — and, for what it's worth, the head of NASA too.
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