Hi! Welcome to the forums! I hope you will enjoy your stay. To get into orbit (provided your rocket has enough fuel) Burn straight up until you reach about 10000 meters. Tilt 45 degrees, until your orbit apoapsis in the map mode reaches around 100000-20000 meters Stop burning, warp until you reach your apoapsis Burn prograde and circularize. My measure of avoiding separated stages from glitching ( and killing your Kerbals ) is to attach sepatrons facing outwards from your rocket so it ensures that your separated stages won't cling onto your rocket like a hungry tick and exploding your rocket.