[en] If cosmic rays originate in a supernova explosion, they might be accelerated immediately after their synthesis. This would prevent electron-capture decay of unstable isotopes, and could result in large differences between cosmic-ray and solar-system abundances. Existing data on the abundances of iron, cobalt, and nickel in cosmic rays show great similarity to the solar system abundances, therefore, it is concluded that more than a year elapses between the synthesis of the cosmic-ray nuclei and their acceleration to relativistic energies. 2 figures