The Rakosans were first encountered by USS Voyager in 2372 when Voyager made contact with the planet in order to warn them of the approach of a missile heading directly towards the planet. The missile was eventually stopped by the efforts of Voyager and her crew.
In 2372 Rakosan first minister Kellan was contacted by USS Voyager and informed of a dangerous missile that was on a direct course for Rakosa V. The Rakosans had been tracking Voyager and the missile, but had not known exactly what the missile was. Kellan at first thought that Voyager captain Janeway might be threatening him with the missile, but eventually realized that Voyager was doing everything in its power to stop the missile. The missile was a Cardassian design that had been captured by the Maquis in 2370 and reprogrammed to target Aschelan V, a Cardassian planet whose environment was very similar to that of Rakosa V's. An encounter with the Caretaker's coherent tetryon beam in the Badlands in 2371 had transported the missile to the Delta Quadrant in much the same manner that Voyager herself had been transported. Later, with the missile only a few days from Rakosa V, Kellan deployed a small fleet of 15 spacecraft to intercept the missile, whose defensive systems were far superior to the Rakosan vessels. Preparations were made on Rakosa V at this time to evacuate the eastern continent where the missile was expected to hit. When the fleet failed in its futile attempts to stop the missile Janeway contacted Kellan and told him of her plan to explode Voyager in the path of the missile in order to prevent it from reaching the planet. This drastic sacrifice was barely avoided when a Voyager crewmember (B'Ellana Torres) working aboard the missile was able to destroy the missile only a minute before Voyager was set to self-destruct.