Hale was born in Houston, Texas but raised in the small town of Humble outside of the city. He lived in Florida while his father was training until finally moving back to Texas at the age of six. Hale is the son of three-time NASA astronaut General Olson Hale, Sr. General Hale participated on the first flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1992. Hale's second mission was on STS-59 in 1994 also onboard the Endeavour. His final mission was onboard 1996 onboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis. In 1998, Hale Sr. retired from NASA and resumed his Air Force command until retiring at the rank of general in 2011, the only astronaut in history to have achieve a four-star rank.