This is the first time in Star Trek that a starship is shown landing (without crashing) on a planet's surface. The reason this was never shown on the original Star Trek (1966) was due to budget restrictions, which necessitated creating the transporter beam as a plot device.
This is the first episode of Voyager in which the ship's combined crew complement is mentioned, as Janeway states, "There are a hundred and fifty-two men and women on this ship."
This script was produced in the first season, but was held back to air as the premiere of season two. In fact, this is the earliest season premiere in Star Trek history, August 28, 1995. Janeway states that the year is 2371, which is the same year as the first season.
The text commentary of this episode claims that, at the time of the episode, Voyager has traversed three hundred light years of the Delta Quadrant.
This episode was designed to be the final show of the first season.