Unusual path and abrupt changes of direction by a star-like object in the sky

On Sunday, May 2 at around 8:45 PM I was outside on the deck of my significant other's house in Westport, CT with a group of 6 people when I casually looked up to the sky at the Big Dipper.  I saw what, at first, appeared to be a star / plane-like object (yellowish-orange in color) moving fairly normally downwards in the sky near the 2nd star of the Big Dipper handle at roughly commercial airplane altitude.  But then, a few seconds later, what caught my eye was that this object performed a sudden - albeit slight - turn in direction (no more than 30 degrees).  It wasn't a gradual, arc-like turn but rather a pretty sudden turn on a point in the sky.  A couple seconds later, it repeated a similar turn on another point in the sky.  4-5 such turns were made within the span of 15-20 seconds so that after that time the object had completely changed its direction and was now heading upwards in the sky on the other side of the same star of the Dipper...and then it (g! radually) disappeared.  From a physics standpoint, it was as if something had entered the atmosphere, took this unusual path, and then exited the atmosphere.  I am 43 years old and I had never seen anything like this before.  It became obvious that it was neither a plane nor a meteor.  I thought that it could, perhaps, be some kind of satellite capable of making such sudden turns...but I later discovered that such motion was impossible for satellites as well (unless something catastrophic was happening with the satellite).  Just when I thought I'd seen a one-time unusual event...about 5 minutes later I see a similar yellowish-orange object appear just outside the the far side of the Big Dipper pan and slowly making its way under the pan and towards the handle.  This time, I quickly called attention to the object to both my girlfriend and another guest at the gathering (he was about 60 years old) and they both confirmed that the strange object was neither a plane nor a meteo! r.  The object continued on its trajectory across that part of! the sky making a gradual arc (straighter than the first) in that part of the sky until it had passed the Big Dipper handle.  It then gradually disappeared afterwards.  This object's somewhat erratic path lasted 30-45 seconds.