The preparation of the initial conditions (solid-liquid interface morphology and solute segregation in the liquid phase) on which growth is started is a very critical step in directional-solidification experiments. Dedicated experiments on Al-1.5 wt% Ni consisting in directional melting followed by thermal stabilisation with different lengths, show that precise control is in practice not straightforward. Indeed, in the mushy zone created by melting the original solid sample, temperature gradient zone melting (TGZM) causes migration of solute-rich liquid droplets and channels. A model is proposed to describe this process and validate the physical interpretation of the experiments through numerical simulation. Knowing the status of the preparation, the intriguing observations in the partially melted region of the Al-1.5 wt% Ni alloys solidified in the Advanced Gradient Heating Facility of European Space Agency during the LMS and STS-95 space missions can now be explained. Finally, the influence of initial interface morphology and melt segregation on directional-solidification transient is discussed, based on a comparison of Al-Ni alloys with hypoeutectic Al-Li alloys previously grown on Earth and in space. It follows that for experiments achieved on original rods with equiaxed microstructure, the efficiency of the preparatory melting and stabilisation phases can be evaluated from the solute macrosegregation profile in the region in between the non-melted solid and directional solidification. The major conclusion is that when the melt is mixed by fluid flow, the initial conditions are near to their asymptotic state at the end of TGZM whereas, when solute diffusion is the mode of transport into the bulk liquid, the condition of homogeneous melt becomes limiting and too much time-consuming to be fulfilled, which in particular holds for the 3D-experiments carried out in the reduced-gravity environment of space. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.