Cosmic ray direct measurements

Direct measurements on cosmic rays in the energy region between tens MeV/n and few TeV/n have been extensively performed since the sixties by experiments on board stratospheric balloons, satellites, and Space Stations. The main goals have been the search for primordial antimatter, dark matter annihilation signals and exotic particles and the study of the mechanisms of production, acceleration and propagation of cosmic rays. A review of the major results up to an energy of few TeV obtained by the previous and the current experiments is presented in this article.