How can the same side of the moon always face earth? Does it not rotate?

Question

The fact that China just retrieved rocks from the dark side of the moon confuses me. Does the moon rotate in the same manner as Earth does so we never see the “dark” side of the moon?

In: Planetary Science

Answer 1

Imagine someone holding a shotput and spinning around getting ready to throw it. That person is only ever going to see the side of the shotput that the chain attaches to, the whole shotput is still spinning in circles but the thrower only sees the same part.

Now swap the chain for gravity, the thrower with the Earth and the shotput with the moon.