So, I apologize for this pretty much beginner story but I reached another milestone today.
I bought KSP for the PlayStation on Monday. As of tonight I am surviving high altitude flight of just over 250,000 meters on a fairly consistent basis! I'm probably doing it "wrong" but it is working.
I am using 4 medium solid rocket boosters as stage one. These surround a fairly large solid rocket booster that is used as stage 2. Winglets used for maneuvering. Stage 3 is a liquid fuel engine, I burn this at half throttle and shut down when half the fuel is used up. This carries up a capsule, beginners science pack and the storage unit for a few batteries. The science station and the storage unit are stacked on top of a heat shield. With this setup I can drift up to 250,000 meters pretty consistently. Once I get back down to about 60-70,000 meters I throttle up the liquid fuel engine and let it run out. This seems to slow me down enough so the science pack survives. Drogue chute and then regular parachute get Jeb or Valentina home safely.
you experienced people are probably laughing and going "what a noob, there is a much easier way to do this!"