NASA took a huge step toward returning America to deep space last Friday with the flight test of the Orion spacecraft on Dec. 5. It was just the kind of mission NASA hoped for, all the while knowing that the first mission by any spacecraft often turns up significant glitches. That was not the case this time though. The cone-shaped Orion held up to all the pressures of launch and ascent into orbit, then made two passes through the high radiation of the Van Allen belts before facing the searing plunge into Earth's atmosphere and splashing down under three billowing parachutes. Just four-and-a-half hours earlier, Orion sat on the other coast of the country, atop a Delta IV Heavy rocket until its launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The liftoff had already been delayed by a day because of high winds and then balky fill-and-drain valves. Neither problem showed itself Friday, though, and the three engines of the United Launch Alliance rocket ignited on time at 7:05 a.m....