Wim Verstraeten was born on August 26, 1957 in Sint-Niklaas, Flanders, Belgium. He was an actor, known for The Misfortunates (2009), Thuis (1995) and Flikken (1999). He died on September 5, 2021 in Leuven, Flanders, Belgium.
Verstraeten became known for his efforts to try to be the first to circumnavigate the world non-stop with the Rozière balloons Breitling Orbiter 1 (1997) and Breitling Orbiter 2 (1998) together with his co-pilot the Swiss Bertrand Piccard.
In 1985 he was the first Belgian to cross the Channel in a balloon.
In 1990, he was the first to fly a balloon over the Kilimanjaro and in 1992 he was the only one to fly across the Atlantic in a five-balloon competition.