That's surprising that you feel so lost. Did you perhaps miss the journal / discovery board in the back of your ship? Basically just need to look at that and try to flesh out any of the plot threads you see on there. Whenever one isn't progressing, take a break and try a totally different direction or just wander wherever you can for a cycle or two and you'll have stumbled on to some new leads probably.

Its pretty intentional that most players hit a stall around the middle because you have to start challenging things you THINK you know but haven't actually proven to be certain yet.

I felt the same way. I had a hard time with it because you don’t really know what you’re supposed to be doing. I ended up getting frustrated with it and looked up how to finish it.

After I finished it, I regretted looking it up. It really is a masterpiece but it takes a certain type of person to be able to get through it. I couldn’t get through it myself, but my partner and I have fun playing these types of games together.

We’re currently enjoying working through the dlc now.

I guess I’ll say I get it if you want to quit or just look up the solution, but I promise it’s worth it if you make it through

I think the biggest predictor of whether people will vibe with Outer Wilds is how much natural curiosity they have and how self-motivated they are. Outer Wilds doesn't push players towards any particular objective, it instead tries to give players questions so they go looking for answers. Of course a game that relies so heavily on intrinsic motivation isn't going to be for everyone, but the thing that makes the game so difficult for some people to get into is the same thing that makes those who do get into it love it so much.

Some non-spoilery advice if you decide to give it another shot:

Use the ship log every loop and read what's new. Look at the biggest cards in rumor mode and try to find them. There are several "secret" locations in the game that many of the hints point towards which contain information that puts the game's mystery into perspective and gives players a sense of direction and purpose. In the playthroughs I've seen where they didn't finish it was almost always because they played for a long time without finding any of the "big" secret locations.

Hey, it's okay, friend, not every game has to be for everyone and that's fine.

What worked for me, I guess, was to not approach it in terms of a game where I'm trying to make progress, so much as a vast place with a lot of mysteries that all actually make sense once you work it out; and that happens naturally if you let your curiosity drive you. You will, in fact, be making progress; you just won't realize it until the pieces fall into plane and, all at once, you know.