Chess Online

O. Gallischek, 1960

i really like this puzzle. Having stumbled upon it here sparked a search of it's history. Not easy info to find it turns out.
Best info i could find on origin was that it was composed by one Otto Gallischek. Notes found at www.chessproblem.net suggest it first appeared in a German newspaper, Weser Kurier, on February 25, 1960, likely as a daily chess puzzle, a common feature in newspapers at that time
There are a few variations of this setup with the row of pawns. There is another variation with Rooks and Bishops on the second row in place of the pawns
[] (found here blog.problemasdeajedrez.com, with a quote attributed to Mr Gallischek about the puzzle - "BLANCAS JUEGAN Y GANAN

Estudio artístico de ajedrez compuesto por Otto Gallischek y titulado "Un cohete espacial va a Marte".
El cohete, la torre negra, próximo a su lanzamiento, se debe dirigir a Marte, el rey blanco. Los motores del cohete se ponen en marcha y la torre asciende. ¿Cómo puede esquivar Marte al cohete?
Tema: Rey encerrado..

Google translate: “BLANCAS (sic.) PLAY AND WIN An artistic study of chess composed by Otto Gallischek and titled "A space rocket goes to Mars". The rocket, the black tower, close to its launch, must be directed to Mars, the white king. The rocket engines start and the tower rises. How can Mars dodge the rocket? Topic: King locked up.”")
Most of the sites have an incorrect solution, not the one we have here. With the black Rook starting on f7, one example: 1 ... Rf3 + 2.e3 Rxe3 + 3.c3 Rxc3 + 4.Ka2 Ra3 + 5.Kb1 Ra1 + 6.Kc2 Rc1 + 7.Kd3 Rc3 + 8.Ke2 Re3 + 9.Kf1 Re1 + 10.Kg2 Rg1 + 11.Kf3 Rxg3 + 12.K2 Re3 + 13.Kd1 Re1 + 14.Kc2 Tc1 + 15.Kb3 Rc3 + 16.Ka2 1-0

I had a fresh look at this problem today...
The secret lies in the pawn on g3. In the variation given, the pawn moves to g4. I can think of another variation where the only way for black to give check would be to take the pawn on g3.

With that pawn gone and no more pawns on the third row, a3 is covered by the white Rook. The white King can flee to a2. If black gives check on a3, white takes the black Rook and mate. In the variation given black takes the pawn on c7 which results in mate one move later.