Apollo Missions, Computer Education, and Smuggling Bibles in the USSR

Episode 5: In this episode of The Fora Podcast, Kenan Comer and Cheryl Crupi talk with Dianne Martin — computer scientist, educator, and pioneer — whose six-decade career spans NASA’s Apollo missions, the early days of computer education, and smuggling Bibles into the USSR.

Over the course of her remarkable career, Dianne has spent her life opening doors — from technology classrooms in the U.S. to university halls in the United Arab Emirates — creating access and opportunity wherever she went. Her story is one of courage, curiosity, and conviction: a reminder that doing what matters most often begins with making space for others.

Key Takeaways

• A meaningful life is built by doing what truly matters, again and again

• Teaching was about helping people see that technology was for them — from schoolteachers and their students, to college and doctoral students, to young women in the UAE

• Every new wave of technology, from computing to AI, is an invitation to keep learning

Sound Bites

• “I just kept doing what I thought was important.”

• “We wanted people to know they could do this too.”

• “It wasn’t about the technology — it was about people.”

• “Sometimes you just have to make your own access.”

• “We opened doors for others, even when no one was holding them open for us.”

Chapters
00:00 – Welcome & introductions
03:15 – Apollo missions & early computing
11:40 – Teaching as access
19:25 – A force to be reckoned with
28:10 – Faith in action
35:45 – Building futures abroad
42:30 – What matters most