The cosmic-ray proton, helium, and muon spectra at small atmospheric depths
of 4.5 -- 28 g/cm^2 were precisely measured during the slow descending period
of the BESS-2001 balloon flight. The variation of atmospheric secondary
particle fluxes as a function of atmospheric depth provides fundamental
information to study hadronic interactions of the primary cosmic rays with the
atmosphere.Comment: 21 pages, 11 figures, 4 table