Multiple “Satellites” Following Same Path in Sky

From the cockpit of an airliner at 40,000 feet.  I am a retired USAF pilot and captain at a major airline.  We were flying east to west on a heading of 250 degrees in a mostly clear night, though the ground had low overcast.  Venus was clearly visible in the western sky.  At 19:45 Central time, I observed what appeared to be a satellite passing below Venus and heading in a northerly direction.  I pointed it out to the other pilot and we hypothesized what it could be.  I recorded the details so I could later use a website to see what satellite it truly was.  About 1-2 minutes later, we both observed another “satellite” traveling along the identical path, followed by another, then another, at one point two rather close to each other, all in all at least 10 in almost a 15 minute period.  There was a gap until 20:21 when I saw the last one.  Neither I nor the other pilot have ever seen anything like this.  It was definitely weird!