There seems to be a word containing animal made out of the hairs on the bird's belly between its neck and "front" leg. Looks like it ends in "iminal"? Word finder software aint helping...
Not true. If you took the cup into space with the water already in it, there'd be no force to start it moving. Unforunately if you went back down to earth the water would stay in space.
Could you put weights on the cork to make it sink a little?
If you put a cork in an ordinary glass of water it will always move to the side of the glass and stay there. However there is a way of making sure the cork stays floating in the centre of the glass without altering the makeup of the water or attaching anything to the cork.
How about filling the cup so the water is just bulging out of the top with only the surface tension to stop it falling out. Then when you put the cork on there's no side for it to hit.