Following in Newt Gingrich's moon base footsteps, Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson believes that humans need to boldly go where no man has gone before.

In an interview with ABC's "This Week" on Sunday, Johnson told host George Stephanopoulos that "we do have to inhabit other planets. The future of the human race is space exploration," as one possible solution for climate change.

Stephanopoulous also brought up a comment that Johnson made in 2011, when he said "in billions of years the sun is going to actually and encompass the earth." Johnson described the remark as a joke, and asked Stephanopoulous if he was allowed "to have any humor."

Johnson was also pressed on his role in the race after telling reporters that it was "game over" if he did not make the debate stage with Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Johnson already missed the cut for the first debate, which is set for Monday.

Johnson maintained that he would stay in the race, but criticized the criteria set by the Presidential Debate Commission, which ruled that any candidate must have a 15 percent threshold to qualify for the debates.

Johnson polls average at 8.3 percent according to the last RealClearPolitics average.