Finally checking in here for the first time in a while!
I just wanted to post this here in case it happens to anyone else (I may have already earlier… I can’t remember). It is likely it isn’t what you encountered, but I had my joystick do something similar and it was because it initialized itself with me accidentally leaning on it. This was either when my computer first booted up or when I first launched Elite; I believe it was the former as even the joystick application was showing it not aligned outside of Elite. Quick reboot while not touching anything and all was good!
May have to fire this up again too, but I admit the learning of all the controls again holds me back too.