I was an engineer at NASA on the lunar lander program. The engineers I worked with were deeply involved in analyzing how the lighting conditions impacted the navigational dispersions during the landing approach.
Every one of those guys would have understood what someone colloquially means by “dark side of the moon”. There are other, more precise, terms for the unlit side.
Popular science is not really a science journal, it’s an entertainment publication. I don’t see an issue here.