Sorry to hear you had a tough time with the game's controls. Were you using a controller or mouse & keyboard? It also sounds like you might have missed some important parts of the tutorial, like where it explains what the lights next to the controls represent.
If you ever happen to run into something that doesn't make sense, or if you'd like some tips for what to do next, jump into our Discord server and we can help.
https://discord.com/invite/H4F3wws
Also, there is an in-game hint system that is mentioned at the end of the tutorial, as well as notes about all of the ship controls if you hover over them. Those notes will explain what each control does, and the hint system can be activated by clicking on the compass bubble.
Hopefully all of that is helpful!