Brief overview of the current status and prospects of cosmic ray studies is presented. Our Galaxy and extragalactic space are filled with cosmic rays, a relativistic gas of high-energy protons, electrons, and heavy nuclei. The directly measured cosmic ray energy spectrum extends from about 1 MeV to energies above 10^20 eV. The radio-astronomical, X-ray, gamma-ray and the first very high energy neutrino observations shed light on the origin of cosmic rays. The model of cosmic ray origin in supernova remnants (including pulsars), the interpretation of Voyager data on low energy particles, the structure of knee in cosmic ray spectrum at 3×10^15 eV, and the energy limit of Galactic sources are discussed. The origin of cosmic rays with energies above 10^17 to 10^18 eV may be associated with the Active Galactic Nuclei, the progenitors of Gamma-Ray Bursts, the fast spinning newborn pulsars, the large-scale structure formation shocks and some other objects.
Vladimir Ptuskin (IPST); Chairman: François Bouchet