Meet Your Guides

We can’t wait to meet you and take you on your tour!

Karen is a lifelong resident of the Space Coast. She was 18 months old when their family moved to Florida. Her dad came to work in the space program just like most everyone who lived here in the 60’s. As the space program developed the workers were a tight-nit group that spent weekends and holidays together. Karen got to hang out with astronauts, directors and engineers as a normal course of life. Only as an adult did she marvel the key players she met at that time. Especially close, because of their German heritage, Werner Von Braun, or uncle Werner, was a regular visitor. She remembers at the dinner table listening to her father talk about what was happening on the station, in space and upcoming launch activities.

In 1973 her family moved to Germany and she spent her high school years abroad. At 21 she came back to her roots, back to having sand in her toes, the beach was calling her home.

Before finding her life career as a tour guide she worked at KSC as an OIC in the OPF and VAB where the SRB and ET are stacked on the MLP. The first course of study at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is acronym recognition! She did enjoy working hands on with the Shuttle program as an Orbiter Integrity Clerk. She took great care when keeping logs of tools used on the shuttle. This was a procedure started after an incident on a shuttle mission. During a live video presentation from space, a tool left behind during maintenance, went floating by the astronauts.

After leaving the shuttle program Karen started sharing her knowledge with visitors to the space coast as a tour guide. With her vast knowledge and many stories she entertained people on tours around the Space Coast and Florida’s many sights. German visitors were especially grateful of her bilingual skills. She enjoys the outdoors, boating, snorkeling, watching wildlife, and birding. Her knowledge of the flora and fauna of Florida is extensive. As a guide for wildlife or spaceflight, Karen is an essential part of the Canaveral Tours group.

Shelley is a native Floridian and her favorite place to be, when she isn’t sharing Florida with guests, is outdoors, hiking, biking, boating or beaching. She loves anything history and the space program is of special interest. Not only because her backyard is the playground for Spaceflight, but as a teacher her inquisitive mind wants to know. Her favorite part of being a guide is meeting people who can add stories and history to the knowledge she already has.

 

More info on Brady coming soon!

In 1969 Kevin got to see Gus Grissom’s helmet at school which sparked his interest in the space program. His enthusiasm only increased when he moved to the Space Coast in 1971. Joining the Army took him away but he returned 6 years later as a 2nd Lieutenant.
An opportunity to cater an event celebrating the Voyager 2 launched Kevin’s next space coast career. Working as bartender for 12 years at iconic Cocoa Beach hot spots, Ramones, The Mousetrap and Brevard Surf. He celebrated success and grieved failures hearing first hand narratives from astronauts, launch directors and engineers. To top off his career he managed the Volcano Club on Ascension Island, part of the Cape Canaveral Eastern Range and tracking stations. His best memory from Ascension is looking up and seeing the Space Shuttle pass overhead in orbit with the naked eye. So clear he could see the shuttle bay doors open.
Kevin moved his career to butlering and has a lifetime of stories traveling around the world meeting and serving interesting people.
His home is forever Cocoa Beach so once more he found another outlet in to work and enjoy the Space Coast. Being a guide was a simple transition and his experiences living and working here add great stories for our guests.

More info on Kim coming soon!

Mike was born in Bloomfield, New Jersey and his interest in America’s space program began when he received a GI Joe, Mercury Capsule play set when he was just 4 years old.   Mike and his family moved to South Florida 3 years later in 1971.  He grew up in Coral Springs, Florida and received his Bachelors degree in Telecommunications from the University of Miami in 1986.  Mike went on to spend more than 34 years in the television production industry and retired at the end of 2020.  He worked his last 21 years with Golf Channel, a division of NBC Universal, in Orlando, Florida where he was a Post Production Supervisor / Editor.  Mike was nominated for a national sports Emmy in 2013 for his editing work on a “Ryder Cup” promotional campaign.   Mike grew up in a golfing family and he can be found in his spare time on the golf course or tuning up his game at “Top Golf”.  

After visiting several Lighthouses in Florida over the years, Mike’s interest in lighthouse history grew.  After his retirement at the end of 2020, Mike and his wife moved to Cocoa Beach where he became a docent at the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse.  A few years later, the opportunity to become a guide for Canaveral Tours presented itself and was a perfect match for Mike’s passion of both the lighthouse and space history.  “As an editor for television, we considered ourselves storytellers, and in my role as a guide for Canaveral Tours, I still love to be a storyteller, relating an incredible part of American history to our guests.”, says Mike.