„WFIRST has the potential to open our eyes to the wonders of the universe, much the same way Hubble has,“ said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator of NASA‘s Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. „This mission uniquely combines the ability to discover and characterize planets beyond our own solar system with the sensitivity and optics to look wide and deep into the universe in a quest to unravel the mysteries of dark energy and dark matter.“