Congrats on your first game! Space shuttle is a great one!
For cleaning the play field, it may be worth reading through Vid's awesome guide on cleaning and waxing a machine. https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/cleaning-and-waxing-pinball-machines-vids-guide
Is the game trying to kick out the ball and it's not just making it out of the trough or is it just not kicking the ball hard enough?