The historic moon landing attempt was praised in India and abroad (File)

Indian space agency ISRO on Tuesday expressed its gratitude for the support it received after it lost contact with the Vikram lander during its Moon mission, Chandrayaan 2, earlier this month.

"Thank you for standing by us. We will continue to keep going forward - propelled by the hopes and dreams of Indians across the world!" ISRO tweeted.

ISRO had planned to land the Moon probe on the south pole to detect water in the permanently shadowed areas around it. However, when the lander was at an altitude of 2.1 kilometer, the ISRO control room lost contact with it.

The historic Moon landing attempt was praised in India and abroad.

Thank you for standing by us. We will continue to keep going forward - propelled by the hopes and dreams of Indians across the world! pic.twitter.com/vPgEWcwvIa - ISRO (@isro) September 17, 2019

PM Modi, who was in the control room at the time, had addressed the ISRO scientists hours after it lost contact with the lander.

"In our glorious history, we have faced moments that may have slowed us but they have never crushed our spirit. We have bounced back again and gone on to do spectacular things. This is why our civilisation stands tall," he had said.

PM Modi had also consoled ISRO chief K Sivan after he broke down in public.

The space agency and Dr Sivan had received massive support on social media as well. Politicians across parties had praised the agency for its efforts.

ISRO's Moon landing attempt was also praised by the US space agency NASA, which said, "Space is hard. We commend ISRO's attempt to land their Chandrayaan 2 mission on the Moon's South Pole. You have inspired us with your journey and look forward to future opportunities to explore our solar system together."

Blaming faulty execution in the last stage of the operation for the loss of communication, Dr Sivan had said that scientists will try to establish contact with the Chandrayaan 2 lander for 14 days.