In this study, the experimental and numerical investigations of the ignition of methane-air mixtures by a electrically heated wire have been carried out. In order to define the initial condition and make the analysis simple, the following control unit was developed; which heats the wire to the setting temperature in a very short time, and maintains the wire temperature constant until ignition. Experiments with the feedback control have been performed using nickel and platinum wires in normal gravity and microgravity. From experimental results, ignition temperatures in normal gravity are higher than those in microgravity, however, the dependences of ignition temperature on equivalence ratio are not affected by natural convection. Numerical calculations, including catalytic reaction for platinum, have been performed to analyze the experimental results in microgravity. Numerical results show that reactants near platinum wire are consumed by catalytic reaction, therefore, the higher temperature is needed to ignite the mixture with platinum wire.