If it was just AFTER sunset you get a situation where the sun is set for you but it is NOT set for the satellite tens of miles above, as long as they're in the right part of the sky.
So one moves into the shadow of the earth, the other moves out - at a 90° angle.
Maybe https://space.stackexchange.com/ knows.
[2] March 2018, at approximately 8:30-9pm. Again, I don't recall the exact date or time, (I should have written it down immediately), but we were outside Borrego Springs, California approximately 100 miles east of San Diego. San Diego is also very close to a lot of Military bases.