When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.Screenshot from a video captured from the International Space Station that shows hundreds of firework shows going off in the Los Angeles area on July 4, 2026. | Credit: NASAThe U.S. just celebrated its 250th birthday, and Americans living off the planet had a great view of some of the parties down below.”The International Space Station orbited over Los Angeles on July 4th as America marked 250 years of independence with a burst of fireworks lighting up the city below — a celebration so bright it reached all the way to space!” NASA officials said on Monday (July 6) via the agency’s ISS X account.AdvertisementAdvertisementThat post featured a 15-second video captured from the orbiting lab, which showed hundreds of firework shows flickering across the L.A. area at night like cameras flashing in quick succession at a concert or a football game.The International Space Station orbited over Los Angeles on July 4th as America marked 250 years of independence with a burst of fireworks lighting up the city below — a celebration so bright it reached all the way to space! pic.twitter.com/SMCXTFYRjD— @Space_Station (July 6, 2026)Voir le tweet originalThere are seven people living in Earth orbit at the moment, members of the ISS’ current Expedition 74. Three are Americans: NASA astronauts Jack Hathaway, Jessica Meir and Chris Williams, all of whom serve as flight engineers.The others are the European Space Agency’s Sophie Adenot and cosmonauts Andrey Fedyaev, Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev. Kud-Sverchkov is Expedition 74’s commander, while Adenot, Fedyaev and Mikaev are flight engineers.NASA didn’t just passively observe celebrations of the United States’ 250th birthday; the agency marked the occasion in multiple ways as well.AdvertisementAdvertisementFor example, NASA painted big “America 250” logos on the Space Launch System rocket that launched the Artemis 2 astronauts around the moon this past April. The four Artemis 2 crewmates also wore special patches commemorating the anniversary.In addition, NASA conducted a series of airplane flyovers in the Washington, …
