[Tohopekaliga]

In general, you start with the little ship that you want to make the whole trip. A one person capsule with a parachute and heat shield, for instance.

Then you add a decoupler and a small stage that would be enough to bump the thing out of orbit, so like a small size 1.25m tank and a Terrier engine.

Now another decoupler, and a bigger stage that'll do the orbital burn. Then another stage below that that's main job is to get everything else off the ground and up about 10km.

Orbit isn't about getting really high, it's about going sideways fast enough that when you fall back down, you miss the planet.

Space stations her built in pieces.