  The balloon-borne Cosmic Ray Energetics And Mass (CREAM) experiment launched
five times from Antarctica has achieved a cumulative flight duration of about
156 days above 99.5% of the atmosphere. The instrument is configured with
complementary and redundant particle detectors designed to extend direct
measurements of cosmic-ray composition to the highest energies practical with
balloon flights. All elements from protons to iron nuclei are separated with
excellent charge resolution. Here we report results from the first two flights
of ~70 days, which indicate hardening of the elemental spectra above ~200
GeV/nucleon and a spectral difference between the two most abundant species,
protons and helium nuclei. These results challenge the view that cosmic-ray
spectra are simple power laws below the so-called knee at ~1015 eV. This
discrepant hardening may result from a relatively nearby source, or it could
represent spectral concavity caused by interactions of cosmic rays with the
accelerating shock. Other possible explanations should also be investigated.
