An American astronaut, who is in space, wished the United States people a Happy Independence Day from the orbit, on Sunday.

NASA astronaut, Douglas Wheelock posted his July 4th tweet messages and pictures on Twitter, where he tweets as Astro_Wheels, to celebrate the U. S. holiday on the International Space Station.

Wheelock, who is a colonel in the U. S. Army, wrote, "Happy 4th of July! Celebrating Independence Day morning in the Russian 'Service Module', the ISS Command Post".

Wheelock is one of the three US astronauts residing on-board the space station, while the three Russian cosmonauts account for the remaining of the station's six-person squad.

Some time ago, the astronauts had said that they cannot view the fireworks from space during the festivities that usually come with the Fourth of July public holiday in the United States.

Also, firecrackers are not permitted on the International Space Station, as they can create a fire risk, NASA officers have said.

In mission comments on NASA TV today, NASA Spokesperson, Rob Navias said that there were no official plans for the station's American team members to celebrate July 4 in space, although it was meant to be a not-at-work day for the reason that it was a regular weekend.