You might be interested in one of the comments from the blog page, and Hale's reply:
Sorry Wayne, it seems to me that you launched knowing there was an unresolved problem, not unlike the Challenger accident decision. What else could you do? Ground the vehicle until the problem is fixed!! The crews’ lives and the future of NASA was at stake.
Sorry Wayne, it seems to me that you launched knowing there was an unresolved problem, not unlike the Challenger accident decision. What else could you do? Ground the vehicle until the problem is fixed!! The crews’ lives and the future of NASA was at stake.
... to which Hale replied, simply, "Yep."