Yes! -You should only worry about overheating if it blows up your engine. I have not seen any overheating explosions in recent updates, but I have heard the RAPIER is prone to overheating. -Asparagus staging will help you quite a lot in the early part of this steep learning curve, but some see it as cheating/unrealistic. (I find it ugly) -VAB construction works with a "tree," in other words every part is connected to one adjacent part, all leading back ultimately to a root part. This means no rings, nets, etc. (It is possible, but requires docking ports and a tolerance for very low framerate) -"Moar boosters" is not always a good idea, struts are your friend. That's about all to tell without a full orbital tutorial. Have fun! EDIT: The "edge" of the atmosphere can be measured by where you can timewarp at 5x.