# If Cassini's final flyby of Saturn's moon Titan is the 127th Titan flyby, why is it called "T-126"?

Cassini's final flyby of Titan in April 2017 sealed it's fate in September of that year. This is described further in answers to What force is bringing Cassini down into Saturn's atmosphere in another 145 days; drag, or…?

Question: If Cassini's final flyby of Saturn's moon Titan is the 127th Titan flyby, why is it called "T-126"?

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish Science (slightly edited for "clarity")

Cassini’s 127th and final close flyby of Titan marks the end of Cassini’s Ring-Grazing Orbits and sets the stage for the mission’s Grand Finale.

The spacecraft made its 127th and final close approach to Titan on April 21 at 11:08 p.m. PDT (2:08 a.m. EDT on April 22), passing at an altitude of about 608 miles (979 kilometers) above the moon's surface.

Date: April 22, 2017
Altitude: 608 miles (979 km)
Speed (relative to Titan): 13,000 mph (5.8 km/sec)

• Not really sure. The first three were T-A, T-B, and T-C, followed by T-3, T-4, ... T-C was the Huygens problem deployment. Oct 20 '18 at 1:45
• @MarkAdler they were forward-thinking folks and so used zero-based indexing ;-)
– uhoh
Oct 20 '18 at 1:47
• @MarkAdler if you think that suffices as an answer, let's go for it!
– uhoh
Mar 23 '19 at 8:31